Old Broads and Booya

    The Fall Fest took place in Sister Bay this weekend. C and I have been lucky that it takes place while we are on vacation. I enjoy looking at the craft booths. I always look for a woman who knits hats and decorates them with gorgeous pins. There are all kinds of jewelry, hair accessories, clothes, soaps, lotions and decorative home items. It's a great place to watch people. There are people of all ages wandering around with beverages and food int their hands. It's also a good place to dog watch. Many of the dogs wear sweaters or Packer attire. Bands play music in front of the bars. There is a mechanical bull.
   I found the hat maker and purchased a new black hat. I looked at some interesting hair items. There was a booth selling loose potpourri. I stopped to smell it. I love potpourri, but Scamp and Colby like to play it so I can't keep it around. C was milling in the crowd with his new camera looking for good shots. We were both having a good time.
   C and I had not planned on staying for the parade, it was supposed to rain. The weather was nice so we decided to stay. We found a nice spot and waited for it to start.
   In front of us were a couple of older women. One of them was wearing a a sweater with pictures of cats and balls of yarn around the hem. She wore a scarf with a pattern of piano keys on it. Obviously she was a local and was excited for the parade to begin.
   The VFW, American Legion and Boy Scouts were first. They were carrying American flags. Most of the men removed their hats and stood at attention as the flag passed  by. The American Legion marched past carrying rifles. Once in awhile they would stop, fire the rifles and then eject the cartridges onto the ground. The woman with the scarf applauded all the veterans with enthusiasm.
   A local high school marching band approached. They were playing the song "Thriller" and were all dressed like zombies. The woman cheered for the band and grabbed the hand of the band director as he marched by. A group of bagpipers and drummers dressed in kilts marched by. The stopped, stood in a circle and played a song.
  It was as much fun watching her watch the parade as it was watching the parade. She waved at all the floats and called out to the people on them. When a float by a local florist went by, someone came off the float and gave her a pink rose. In between floats she would make comments about the parade. When a float from a local consignment shop went by, C mentioned that he would like to go there. She turned around and told him that it was a good place and also where it was located.
   All of us standing around her followed her example of cheering for the floats and applauding them. I think it was effective as the rest of us were also being showered with candy. C even managed to snag some gold beads for me. It put them on right away.
   I watched her with admiration. She must have been at least 80 years old. She looked happy, healthy and was definitely having a really good time. Should I be lucky enough to be her age, I want to be like that.
  After the parade was over C and I were a little hungry. There was a VFW booth nearby and they were serving booya. We had never had it before and decided to try it. Booya is a chicken soup with vegetables. Our parade watching friend told us that it was made by a chef from a local restaurant. It looked good. C told the man who served it to us that this was the first time he'd had booya. The man told him it wouldn't be his last. It had large pieces of vegetables in it and the broth had some tomato in it. The pieces of chicken were bite sized and perfectly cooked. It hit the spot. C went back to the booth and got two ears of roasted corn and some hot apple cider. It was the best roasted corn we had eaten all year.
   The two of us sat at a picnic bench and watched the people walk by as we sipped our cider. Once in while people would come and sit at our table. C chatted with some of them. He doesn't know any strangers. He just knows friends he hasn't met yet.
    Th weather was still nice. C wanted to take more pictures in some of the other towns. We put our garbage in a nearby trash can and walked back to our car. I thought of the woman with the scarf as we walked away. She was back down there mingling in the crowd,enjoying the people and the music. I was happy we stood by her. It made watching the parade even more fun